Project by

About this project

Admiral is a strategic board game
that allows you to reconstruct naval fleet battles with whole armadas of
detailed ship miniatures.

Independent opinion from professionals

Line vs Line

First steps of the ‘Admiral’ project were made by
Bombat game team in 2010. The project was conceived as an alternative to PC
games for our own children. We recalled very interesting, simple mechanics of
the seafaring miniatures genre. Our basic mechanics trace their roots back to military
headquarters games of naval officers. The greatest historical naval battles
were modeled in these games and they brought up several generations of naval
officers.

A similar game was described in one of the magazines
of our childhood, where rules and recommendations on making of the game were
published; However, the game has been never produced as a finished article.
Children (including us) were making the ships themselves and contended each
with other at the board. Now we have grown up and come back to our childhood
passion but in the form of a ready-made all-round game system. We've
significantly extended the rules, made miniatures of ships, added new scenarios
and made other important things in order to transform ‘Admiral’ into a game
system with unlimited development potential. Nevertheless, we want to credit
people whose ideas formed the basis of the game system:

First of all, it is officer of the Russian Imperator’s
Fleet V. Voyt who published the rules of the naval game developed by him in the
‘Naval magazine' in 1848. Please use thelinkif you want to learn some more about his work. The
second person, V. Golitsyn, a descendant of a noble prince family, while being
a seaman and a painter, offered rules of the ‘Pirates’ game for publication in
1935. Unfortunately, publication was not realized. Vladimir Golitsyn died in
Stalin's prisons. The third one, children’s literature writer A. Orlov (the
author of the previously-mentioned article in a children magazine of 1980),
found the rules of a naval game in a book during World War II (according to his
words) and described them in a magazine without changes. We still don’t know
now who developed these rules but continue our search and hope to learn it in
the future.

We successfully published the basic set of Admiral in the Ukraine in 2012. A lot of
ideas on project development arose during our communications with our
customers. With your help we can present the project in the USA, Europe and
other regions, and produce extensions and developments for the game system.

Admiral is a board game system which allows simulation of the
large naval battles of the sailing epoch. Skirmishes can be simulated between
ships and also between flotillas. For this reason we provide 24 ship miniatures
of sailing ships in the basic Admiral
set. Miniatures are made from different-colored plastics, assembled and fully
ready for the game in a basic set.

A player is able to use all the battle techniques of a
sailing fleet: standoffs between the powerful battleships, boarding ships and
capturing forts, use of fire-ships (for burning the opponent's sails) and more!
Please see the rule book in order to learn all options.

Admiral can be mastered quickly by players both experienced
and new to naval games, because the rules for movement and gunfire have 3
levels of complexity:

Lieutenant – for beginners and children, this has no
complex calculations, and ship movement follows simple logic;

Captain – for more experienced fans of naval games;

Admiral – practically allows you to reconstruct a real
naval battle.

Choose your level and play the game!

Admiral basic set box (Level 5 pledge)

The rule book
describes the Lieutenant and Captain level, while Admiral level rules are
available in PDF. You can also get acquainted with the 3rd complexity using
this link. Admiral level
allows use of the classical methods of a naval battle: wake column, crossing
the T, tack change, line bursting. A separate printed version of the Admiral
level rules is available as an option ($5).

Gameplay is
designed for 2-6 players (depending on scenario) and even games with the most
complex level of the rules will not drag out for a long time. We also propose CAPTAIN cards, which bring
additional variety into the game and make your ships unique (please add $8 for
the 16 cards and descriptions of them).

Additional
KickStarter exclusive ACTON cards will be published
and sent to backers for free (4 for level 1 and 8 for levels 2-3) if Admiral reaches our $30,000 stretch
goal.

The rule book
contains 4 game scenarios: ‘Treasures of the Old Pirate’, ‘Pearl Banks’, ‘Good
Luck with Jolly Roger’, ‘The Seas are On Fire’. One of the great things about Admiral is the large number of
scenarios.

There are overlay
components inside the game box, so each time one can play on the new sea map by
placing islands, forts and reefs in different places.

We designed our fleet with great care. Models for our
designs are real sailing warships, each with its own glorious history. When
your ships sail across their gameboard sea, keep in mind that several centuries
ago, their real "brothers" furrowed seas and oceans, salty air filled
their sails, menacing broadside guns terrified foes, and brave crews sailed and
fought their way into world history!

Admiral
includes among
its components six sets of four
different ship models (in total 24 ships) that, in our opinion, are the
main representatives of the Sail Epoch. They are Brig, Galleon, 28-gun Frigate and 100-gun First Rate Ship. The
basic set of Admiral also includes 4
plastic miniatures of forts.

Scale of miniatures is 1:1700.

A large quantity of sailing ships were created during
the Sailing epoch. 4 models are used in our game system. We are working now on
new models of other ships and new scenarios for them. Backers of this project
have the chance to ask for 2 additional types of warships of the early 19th
century: the 44-gun frigate (prototype - USS Constitution) and military
transport ship (prototype - HMS Bounty). Models will be produced if this option
accumulates $10,000. The cost of expansion for 6 ships of 1 model is $30.

Ships' characteristics are printed on the ship cards.
Playing actions (ship maneuvers and firing) and their damage are also marked on
these cards with colored tokens. Ship cards deserve mention: tokens are placed
on them and are slightly fixed magnetically (it is our simple but convenient
know-how) so that you need not fear minor impacts.

Ship models for KickStarter project are ready-made for
play. Miniatures are made from a firm plastic and are durable for long-term
usage. Also their replacement is easy and inexpensive. Main details of the
models are made from a different-color plastic, so the assembled model is nice
and ready for play. In case one wants to create his own unique fleet, model
paints lay perfectly on the plastic. Examples of the painted ships are in a
photo below.

Level 3 pledge: Game “Treasures of the Old Pirate” (half set of Admiral) is assumed for the 2-4 players
game. It allows you to play full-fledged naval battles, but on small map. Two
scenarios of the Admiral basic set
can be played in this game: “Treasures of the Old Pirate” and "The Seas
are On Fire." Includes: 16 assembled ships (4 copies of 4 ship models
(Brig, Galleon, 28-gun Frigate, 100-gun First Rate)) made from plastic of
different colors; 4 fortifications miniatures; Weathercock (used for wind
direction and strength determination); 16 magnetic ship cards + colored tokens
for them; folding game playing area (mapboard) with size 456*532 mm and
thickness 2.2 mm; 2 overlay islands; 4 overlays reefs; 4 overlay naval mines; a
die; illustrated rules in English. Size of the box is 280*295*40 mm.

Level 5 pledge: board playing system Admiral (here called ‘Basic Set’) assumed for the 2-6 players game.
All scenarios of the Admiral rule
book can be played with this game. Includes: 24 assembled ships (6 copies of 4
ship models (Brig, Galleon, 28-gun Frigate, 100-gun First Rate)) made from
plastic of different colors; 4 fortifications miniatures; Weathercock (used for
wind direction and strength determination); 24 magnetic ship cards + colored
tokens for them; folding game playing area (mapboard) with size 912*532 mm and
thickness 2.2 mm; 5 overlay islands; 6 overlays reefs; 6 overlay naval mines; 2
overlay royal ports; a die; illustrated rules in English. Size of the box is
370*310*74 mm.

Level 11 pledge (Retailer): 4 Admiral board playing systems and 2 games “Treasures of the Old Pirate”.

Option 1: 6 assembled models of 44-gun heavy USA frigate
(prototype - USS Constitution) or military transport ship (prototype - HMS
Bounty) made of different color plastic + 6 magnetic cards to them. Option will
be available in case it will accumulate in total USD 10 000 (regardless of the
ship types chosen by customers). Option cost: $30.

In case you want to have not 6, but 12 ships (12
models of 44-gun frigate, or 12 models of military transport ship, or 6 models
of 44-gun frigate + 6 models of military transport ship), option cost is $45.

Models will be produced if this option accumulates
$10,000.

Option 2: 16 captain cards with manual on their usage will significantly increase diversity of the game and make your ships unique. Option cost: $8.

Option 4: Four plastic three-dimensional islands (2 pieces
of 2 types each) and six 3D reefs. This option will become available if we
reach our $50,000 stretch goal. Option cost: $35. (Not designed yet).

We will start working on the Mediterranian sea game with Galleys fleet. Discount 20% is granted for all backers (incl. Supporter level!) of current Admiral project for the Galleys extension (could be used for future Galleys options purchase).

As the project is already realized in Ukraine
(including miniatures production for the basic set), we are ready to print
English language boxes and rules (already translated by a native English
speaker) and deliver all pledges (except the special 2 ships) in August 2013.
Ships USS Constitution and HMS Bounty will be produced and delivered to backers
in November 2013.

Bombat Game, LLC is proud to partner with Game Salute through their Springboard program for Admiral. Game Salute will handle all of the logistics of bringing the game to market through their Featured Fulfillment program (receiving, warehousing, secure storage, picking, packing, shipping, tracking, sales to stores all around the world, customer service, etc.).

Risks and challenges

Shipment can be a large problem, so we mitigated it by means of a contract with Game Salute, a distributor that already has several successful KS projects!

The hardest work is to create miniatures and that is already complete (except for the Special 2 ships).

Communication with our backers will be one of the challenges, so we will try reacting quickly (in spite of the fact that only one of us knows English enough :-) Please be indulgent to our English here (but enjoy the rules retranslated by a native English speaker!).

PS. I hope nobody on our team will have a heart attack during countdown days on a KS :-) 30, 29, ...,1, 0...ooooooh...

"Why Kickstarter"?
Our reasons:
1. Admiral allows development and extensions, but we will not be able to know demand on that without being in good interaction with customers. KS allows this.
2. Translation and printing of English rules and printing of the Box will be made with high risk unless you see customers' reactions. We are not sure we can make it without this campaign.
3. KS is one of the 2 most important advertising solutions (the other one is Board Game Geek site).

FAQ

Yes. If you are afraid of taxation, we can send your the reward from Ukraine. We have already tested shipment to European Union and Australia 3 months ago, shipments were not taxed. Cost of this individual shipment from Ukraine is nearly the same as international shipment from USA, so just use international shipment cost.

When the project will be finished, we will survey all backers about shipment option they choose (USA, Ukraine). Don't worry about this!